From: cinquainist.81@gmail.com   
      
   PHILIP   
   Hey, Asher; let’s stop here.   
      
   ASHER   
   Here?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Yeah, this is where we’re gonna have our picnic!   
      
   ASHER   
   No way, man! Here!?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Yes, Ash; we’re going to be eating amongst the dead! Oooooh!   
      
   ASHER   
   Shut up!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Oooooh!   
      
   ASHER   
   I mean it!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Ha! Ha! Ha!   
      
   ASHER   
   What the hell, Philip!?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Chill out, Asher! I’m just kiddin’ around.   
      
   ASHER   
   Do you know whose grave this is?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Yeah, Benjamin Nabby’s.   
      
   ASHER   
   Exactly! THE Benjamin Nabby, the greediest man in all of New York. He died   
   like, what-a hundred years ago or something?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Yeah, I know…   
      
   ASHER   
   So why are we here?   
      
   PHILIP   
   We’re gonna do a little experiment.   
      
   Asher   
   What? What kind of experiment? Seriously, Phil, I don’t like this place, it   
   scares the crap out of me. It’s like the only grave here, and everything   
   around it is dead: the trees, the flowers, and even the grass. Look at the   
   grave, it looks like it    
   was freshly dug, even after one hundred years!   
      
   PHILIP   
   ‘Here lies Benjamin Nammy, who in life was incredibly grabby. Stand not on   
   his grave, lest he nab ye!’   
      
   ASHER   
   Stop it, man. Don’t scare me like that! Let’s get out of here! Please!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Come on, Ash! Where’s your sense of adventure? Think about it; us two kids,   
   Philip and Asher Assaf; proving that the crap story about Benjamin Nabby   
   rising out of his grave to grab people and drag them under is just that; crap!   
   No different than any of    
   our video games. Maybe we can talk about this in a school project once we go   
   back in September!   
      
   ASHER   
   Yeah, if we survive.   
      
   PHILIP   
   We will, Asher. I don’t get why people believe this crap, anyway. It’s   
   like believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. It’s all bullshit.   
      
   ASHER   
   What about God?   
      
   PHILIP   
   There’s no god.   
      
   ASHER   
   I don’t know, Phil. Sometimes these stories can be good for us; as either   
   entertainment or to make us good people.   
      
   PHILIP   
   But they’re just stories, Ash-though some of them are kind of cool-they’re   
   just stories. People are always saying-for example-that God will punish you if   
   you do something bad, but it doesn’t stop people from doing bad things to   
   each other. Why    
   doesn’t God stop them if he doesn’t like it? Now about Mr. Nabby, why   
   would he grab us and drag us under just because we stepped on his grave?   
   ‘Respect the dead,’ people say! Screw that! What are the dead gonna do,   
   kill us? It’s not like we’   
   re going to steal from them or anything!   
      
   ASHER   
   I know, but we should let them rest in peace.   
      
   PHILIP   
   And even if we ARE going to steal from them, what are they gonna do about it?   
   It’s not like they’re gonna need it anymore.   
      
      
   ASHER   
   But Mr. Nabby was a greedy man, and he died greedy.   
      
   PHILIP   
   So freakin’ what? What’s he gonna do with all that money? It’s not like   
   he can spend it in the afterlife or anything.   
      
   ASHER   
   Uh…   
      
   PHILIP   
   And how does anybody know that he’ll grab people that so much as touch his   
   grave? Has anyone seen him do it? Has he told anyone that he’ll rise up and   
   do it?   
      
   ASHER   
   I dunno.   
      
   PHILIP   
   Did he grab or kill anybody while they were digging his grave or putting up   
   his tombstone? If not, why not, huh? Tell me that!   
      
   ASHER   
   I dunno…   
      
   PHILIP   
   What the hell do you mean, ‘you don’t know’? Have you ever read about   
   anyone being dragged under by him?   
      
   ASHER   
   No…   
      
   PHILIP   
   See? There you go. And one more thing, if he was as greedy as you say, why   
   does he stay in his grave? Why doesn’t he rise up and terrorize everyone in   
   the big apple and steal from them or something?   
      
   ASHER   
   I’m going to say the first thing I said when you asked those questions, ‘I   
   dunno!’   
      
   PHILIP   
   Well, those same questions I ask about Mr. Nabby, I ask about God himself. Has   
   anyone ever seen God?   
      
   ASHER   
   Uh…   
      
   PHILIP   
   Hah! A different answer this time! Do YOU believe in God?   
      
   ASHER   
   I told you, Philip; I don’t know. Maybe he exists and maybe he doesn’t.   
      
      
   PHILIP   
   Here’s the part I don’t get; why do people believe in God but not zombies,   
   fairies, or goblins?   
      
   ASHER   
   Who knows, Philip? And I don’t either. How should any of us know?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Well, today’s the day we’re gonna know. We’re gonna prove that this   
   whole thing about Benjamin Nabby is bullshit!   
      
   ASHER   
   How are we gonna do that?   
      
   PHILIP   
   By stepping on his grave, that’s what!   
      
   ASHER   
   Are you freakin’ crazy?   
      
   PHILIP   
   Shut up and listen, Asher! I don’t mean really, ‘stepping on it.’ I mean   
   by tapping it with just our toes. We’re both in bare feet, so it ain’t   
   gonna be that much of a problem.   
      
   ASHER   
   Which one of us is gonna do it?   
      
   PHILIP   
   You.   
      
   ASHER   
   Me? No way, man!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Come on, Ash; show some guts for once in your life! Think of this-   
      
   ASHER   
   Screw you! I have guts!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Right…   
      
   ASHER   
   I do! Remember back in March? We ran out onto the balcony-you and me-carrying   
   Mom’s dress!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Which was your idea. I remember, though. It was a bit chilly that day.   
      
   ASHER   
   And we were out in summer clothing and bare feet.   
      
      
   PHILIP   
   Remember when you threw the dress to me while you held the door shut? Mom and   
   Dad threatened to whip your ass.   
      
   ASHER   
   Stepdad!   
      
   PHILIP   
   Right. You held the door shut and then you mooned them, pressing your butt   
   against the screen.   
      
   ASHER   
   Ha! Ha! Yeah, I remember.   
      
   PHILIP   
   You waved your butt in their faces, and then stepdad took off his belt and hit   
   the screen, barely missing you.   
      
   ASHER   
   Yeah, I know.   
      
   PHILIP   
   But you didn’t go back quick enough. You stuck your tongue out at them and   
   called them poo poo faces! Stepdad opened the door and grabbed you, remember?   
      
   ASHER   
   Yeah, I kept yelling at him to let me go!   
      
   PHILIP   
   And then he dragged you inside.   
      
   ASHER   
   See? I showed courage.   
      
   PHILIP   
   Yeah, but it was stupid! But at the same time, funny.   
      
   ASHER   
   But you took part too.   
      
   PHILIP   
   I know, but looking back now, I don’t know why I did…   
      
   ASHER   
   I was standing up to them. It wasn’t fair, the way they were always picking   
   on us; me especially.   
      
   PHILIP   
   I know, but it was still stupid. Anyway, while you were inside, Mom came out   
   onto the balcony, trying to get me. I held her dress over the balcony,   
   threatening to drop it if she came closer.   
      
      
      
   ASHER   
   Yeah, I know. Stepdad made me watch while Mom was after you. You and Mom were   
   talking, but I wasn’t sure what either of you said.   
      
   PHILIP   
   I dropped the dress-though I don’t think it was on purpose.   
      
   ASHER   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)